What Is a Civil Union?

On July 1, 2000, Vermont became the first state in the country to
legally recognize civil unions between gay or lesbian couples. Building on
a state Supreme Court decision in Dec. 1999, which ruled that denying gay
couples the benefits of marriage was unconstitutional discrimination, the
ground-breaking law grants the same state benefits, civil rights, and
protections to same-sex couples as to married couples. In Oct. 2005,
Connecticut became the second U.S. state legalizing civil unions. New
Jersey became the third in Dec. 2006, and New Hampshire the fourth in
2007.

Why Marriage Isn't a Civil Union, and Vice Versa

Same-sex unions have provoked enormous controversy on moral and
philosophical grounds, but separate from these issues, they have raised a
legal quagmire: can a couple of the same sex be married, given that the
very definition of marriage is the legal union of a man and a woman? To
solve this problem and to protect the legal institution of marriage,
Vermont's legislators adopted a different term—“civil union”—to apply to
same-sex marriages. Couples in a civil union would thus be entitled to the
same legal rights as married couples.

Hawaii the First to Raise the Issue

Vermont was not the first state to attempt socially progressive
legislation benefiting gays. In 1993, two men in Hawaii applied for a
marriage license and were turned away. The couple brought their case,
Baehr v. Miike, to Hawaii's Supreme Court, which ruled in
May 1993 that the denial of the license was equivalent to discrimination—a
violation of the state's constitution. In 1998, the Hawaii legislature
took up the issue, and passed a state constitutional amendment barring
same-sex marriages, thus rendering the earlier decision by the Hawaii
Supreme Court unconstitutional.

Same-Sex Marriage Ban in 32 States

The progressive Vermont law stands in stark contrast to the antigay
marriage laws of more than 32 states and the federal government. Just
months before passage of the Vermont law, California—with an eighth of the
United States' population—voted against recognition of gay unions.
Proposition 22, passed on March 7, 2000, ensures that most state benefits
of married couples are not extended to same-sex couples. California is not
alone. In total, 32 states have passed similar legislation, and on the
federal level, the Defense of Marriage Act was passed in 1996, barring
federal benefits to same-sex partners. On the other hand, several states
in 2000 defeated bills that would have banned state benefits for same-sex
unions, including Mississippi, New Hampshire, and New Mexico. In 2008, New
York and Oregon became two more states to recognize same-sex unions.